Shanna Hatfield's Fun and Simple Tips for Entertaining at Home

Hot Chocolate Station

Baby, it’s cold outside… and one of the tastiest ways to warm up is with hot chocolate. If you are hosting a gathering, think about setting up a self-serve hot chocolate station. This allows your guests to get a cup of hot chocolate created the way they want it and adds a bit of fun to your party.

Start by setting up an area dedicated to your hot chocolate station. Make sure you have plenty of mugs available and within easy reach.

A beverage server like this one keeps drinks hot (and cold) for a good hour or two.

You can either mix up chocolate and put in carafes or beverage servers to keep warm or simply have hot water and let your guests mix their own chocolate.

If you are mixing the chocolate, it is easy to do with a can of chocolate mix. If you plan to let them make their own, hot chocolate packets keep things neat and simple.

Have a tray full of goodies they can add into their drinks like marshmallows, whipping cream, peppermint and cinnamon sticks, mini chocolate chips, and sprinkles. You can also have flavorful extracts or liqueurs to add in. Let your imagination run wild!

Make sure you have plenty of spoons and napkins handy.

One really fun thing to do is to put marshmallows on peppermint sticks, dip in yummy chocolate and top with sprinkles to stir into warm mugs of liquid deliciousness.

Here's what you need to make Marshmallow Peppermint stirrers.

Mount the marshmallows on the peppermint sticks. I like the soft sticks rather than candy canes.

Dip Marshmallows into melted chocolate. Just follow directions on the dipping chocolate. So simple!